Interactive wall projection, 2014

An interactive installation was developed for the ZEISS Museum of Optics in Oberkochen. It allows visitors to explore the known orders of magnitude in an interactive way.
A continuous zoom leads from the Planck length (1,616199 × 10−35 m) via atoms, microorganisms, everyday objects, countries, planets galaxies up to the size of the currently observable universe (2,80 × 1026 m).

The user controls the zoom via the distance from the projection surface: zoom-in by getting closer, zoom-out by stepping back. The speed of the zoom can be accelerated or reduced by using the hands additionally.

The project was realized in collaboration with TheGreenEyl (Concept, Art Direction, Production).

Virtual orchestra for the Mendelssohn-Haus Leipzig, 2014

The Mendelssohn-Effektorium is a virtual orchestra at the Mendelssohn-Haus in Leipzig. It was developed and produced by WHITEvoid. Markus Lerner was commissioned for the Screen Design and OpenGL software development.

13 speakers with vertical displays are arranged behind a conductor’s stand, each one representing a different group of instruments or choir voices. Visitors can select one of the works of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy at the stand and conduct the virtual orchestra or choir by moving the coductor’s baton. The speed of the recordings is then adjusted in real-time. Voice groups can be controlled individually and different room situations can be set. The installation also allows one to compare modern and historical instruments.

The vertical screens can display the names of the voices, the sound level or an artistic interpretation of the voice groups influenced by the volume and character of each instrument/voice.

Interactive table at the Museum of Hamburg History, 2012

A part of the new exhbition »The harbour – a key stimulus«, the interactive table leads through 1300 years of Hamburg history. The square table with 3.5 sqm surface area enables visitors to explore the development of the city from the Middle Ages until today.

A mechanical time wheel is used to navigate through the 11 periods. In each era, the most important changes in urban development as well as significant historical events are geographically displayed on the map, for example the North Sea flood of 1962 or the construction of the Speicherstadt. The bilingual content windows appear on different sides of the table, which enables several visitors to explore information independently. The programming was done on behalf of ART+COM (Concept, design and production).

Interactive web, touch screen and iPad application, 2011

The Solar Module Designer is as an interactive application, which allows one to design and configure the most diverse forms of solar modules with ease. This tool is available as an online application, a touch screen installation for trade shows and an iPad App.

Due to the need for a tool that helps architects visualise the various configurations that Odersun offers, we developed this communication tool that also helps the architects integrate unusual module shapes into their design/production drafts.

The custom designed solar modules can be exported as PDF/CAD-files, which can be directly integrated in construction plans or used as a reference in module manufacturing.

Awards

The Solar Module Designer was awarded the IF Communication Design Award, the Red Dot Award and the European Design Award Bronze.

Work
Interaction Design, Programming in Flash/ActionScript 3, Backend in PHP/MySQL

Interactive presentation of complex archives, 2010

The interactive »Research Table« provides an intuitive access to large databases through its large-format multitouch-surface.

Time and location data of artists, commissioners and related institutions are shown in an easily comprehensible display. Works and paths of life are being put into relation and visualized in various ways.

The Research Table was initally developed for the research project »What was German Graphic Design?« at Berlin University of the Arts. (Supervision: Severin Wucher, Kilian Krug, Markus Lerner; contributors: Ferdinand Ulrich, Patrick Funk, Cathleen Gettkandt, Mara Hellmann, Wanda Proft, Manja Schiemann).

Multitouch table in the Red Town Hall, Berlin, 2009

A part of the “Be Berlin” campaign, the interactive table in the shape of the city of Berlin, located in the foyer of the main municipal building (Rote Rathaus) Berlin, which is visited by a large number of tourists daily, shows bilingual descriptions of sights and stories from berliners on a satellite map.

The table allows visitors to get an insight into the many attractions berlin offers with historical pictures, descriptions in german/english and trivia. The multitouch surface enables several users to explore the content at the same time. This project was done in collaboration with Felix Hardmood Beck (exhibition design, draft, consulting) and Hermann Klöckner (consulting) of ART+COM.

One can view the Be Berlin Table at the Red Town hall during working hours Monday–Friday, unless there is a private gathering.

Dynamic Lounge Object, 2008

The Polygon Playground is a large scale interactive lounge object developed and produced by WHITEvoid. Markus Lerner was commissioned for the Tracking/OpenGL software development.

The object offers room for up to 40 persons at a time to walk, sit and explore its multifaceted surfaces. Gradient ramps guide to the top plateau or offer space to sit and rest. The installation features a software aided 3D surface projection system to cover the object with a seamless 360 degree projection. An additional sensory system detects peoples positions and proximity.

The visual appearance of the Polygon Playground changes continuously with the presence, movement and physical touch of its visitors. The object detects the positions and directions of people and reacts with evolving visual moods and graphic styles.

The hardware and software system of the Polygon Playground can be applied to virtually any 3D body to turn it into an interactive object.

Intuitive 3D image browser, 2008

This online application is a whole new approach to image search, allowing you to place several searchfields in a 3D space. The image results get arranged around and between the searchfields. The engine also displays images related to several searchfields and related tags.

Interactive screen display for tade fair stand, 2008

An interactive screen display was developed for the OSRAM stand at the light+building trade fair in Frankfurt in collaboration with ART+COM.

Climate protection being the theme of the installation, each visitor is estimated to have the decision making power on over 1,540 tons of CO₂. This amount could be potentially reduced by implementing more efficient lighting. In order to emphasise the influence each individual has on the climate change, the number of trees necessary to compensate this CO2 emission is displayed.

A tracking camera records the number of visitors who enter the OSRAM stand in real time. Every new visitor triggers the growth of a new tree in the foreground of the screen. As the number of visitors increase the tree thicket gets denser as well.

The total number of viewers on one day, their CO2 saving potential and the corresponding number of trees are displayed on the top part of the LED screen.

Online magazine, 2008

ArtSchoolVets! is a German platform for design, music, art and fashion. Besides the continuously updated News and Features the website offers blogs for designers and artists as well as an online store where designers can sell their fashion products.

The recently introduced sections “Faces & Spaces” and “Portfolio Show” contain interviews with people from the design and music industry and the “Portfolio Show” section displays portfolios of designers and studios.

A highly customised content management system including an online shop for fashion articles was created in PHP/MySQL.

Work
Web design in collaboration with Floor5, Programming in PHP, MySQL, JavaScript

Light installation in an urban environment, 2007

A new display for OSRAM Seven Screens in Munich was created on behalf of ART+COM, Berlin. OSRAM Seven Screens is an installation of seven double-sided vertical screens in front of the OSRAM main office in Munich, next to the highway “Mittlerer Ring”, one of the most congested roads in Munich and Germany.

For the display Reactive Sparks, the traffic on the street is tracked in real-time; each vehicle creates a spark which moves across the screens. The Waves in the lower part of the display represent the amount of traffic in the past few minutes. More traffic results in higher waves with faster movement. The installation conveys the idea of energy and movement translated it into a visual representation. The warm colours create a warm spot in the gray winter landscape. The display will run until April 2008.

The site offers comprehensive historical content, visitor information, interactive Textile Trails and a large image database of textile pattern books, shawls, etc, which is currently being expanded.

The site is based on an individually written content management system, based on PHP/MYSQL. It includes editing of each page, user administration as well as an image and file database. The interative sections were created in a combination of Flash and AJAX.

Generative display for the Vattenfall building facade, 2005

In collabration with Andre Stubbe a new generative animation for the 100 m² Vattenfall media facade in Chausseestr. 23, Berlin-Mitte, was created. The piece was developed on behalf of ART+COM.

Small glowing particles are moving in the field of big, slowly gliding spheres. The accelerated objects emit light when they hit big masses of matter. A visualized dream of energy.

The animation was generated by delegated behavior systems that are part of a selfmade simulation package. The rendering software was written in Java. The rendering time took approximately 8 hours for 3000 movie frames of 7939 x 4340 pixels resolution.

The opening took place during the Lange Nacht der Museen. The piece was screened in turn with screenings by Marius Watz and Lia again from March till August 2006.

Flash-website for music artist, 2004

The site has an unusual concept. Three popup windows are opened simulatinuously in the layout of the Terranova logo. The user navigates from the top to the bottom. Content like news, photos, tracklists, etc. will be displayed in the lower window. Music samples and videos can be played with the integrated media player.

The site is fully based on a content management system, developed by Floor5.

Reactive robotic creature, 2004

Outerspace is a reactive robotic creature with animal-like behaviour. It was developed in collaboration with Andre Stubbe. Outerspace's fundamental motivation for any behaviour is based on curiosity, the desire to explore the surrounding space looking for contact. Touch it, play with it and watch its behaviour.

The project is at the edge of art and design involving various aspects of industrial design, physical computing & artificial intelligence. It was developed on the brief “Lustobjekt”, object of pleasure & desire, in the Digital Media Class at the Berlin University of the Arts.

Indicating mobile radiation in real space, 2004

Radiation culture is an interactive installation that visualizes the spatial distribution of mobile radiation.

Electromagnetic radiant energy feeds a synthetic bioindicator. The visual display uses the metaphor of algal growth in places of strong insolation. The absorption range in the electromagnetic spectrum, however, is shifted from visible light to long-wave radiation.

The installation refers to a space, where mobile sources of radiation like mobile phones are. This can be both a room inside a building and an area of public space, for example a place, where many people frequent. At places of concentrated radiation an alga-like shape begins to grow. It is loosely connected and can freely move in space.

Work
Idea, concept, design, programming in Java, video tracking

Assignment
Conceive and design a project, whose main means of expression is generativity. The choice of topic is open.

Intermediate degree in the Digital Media Class, 2003

My intermediate diploma in the Digital Media Class deals with the relationship of anticipation and reality. A series of interactive screen applications explores the difference between the anticipated future and the actual reality.

Anticipation
Anticipation is the expectation or the mental idea of an event in the future. It originates from the ability of a subject to imagine a future. It can happen consciously or unconsciously.

Reality
The term of Reality describes the actual future reality, e.g. the consequences of an action. The mental expectations of an observer can turn out to be true or false.

Website and CD-Rom for the Basic Course of the Digital Media Class, 2003

An interactive menu in the top left corner provides access to information on the participants of the course and their works. The layout is scalable and adapts to the screen resolution automatically. The menu was designed by the group, the programming was done in collaboration with Andre Stubbe.

Short movie, 2002

Step and track, object and shadow, cause and effect – each one of those elements is strongly connected to the other from our experience. Their chronological order is determined. This short movie is going to look into that.

Work
Idea, concept, direction, camera, editing, compositing

Assignment
Design with the medium time: create time figures, time bodies, time tracks...
Visual entities, where time is inscribed or which are formed by processes of time.